The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for doffing yarn packages automatically from textile machines, particularly from a slubbing machine and replacing them with empty bobbins using conventional storage systems with transporting equipment.
German patent 37 02 265 discloses a method and an apparatus for automatically doffing yarn packages from a slubbing machine and replacing them with empty bobbins in which the yarn packages are lowered into a position outside of the flyer and placed upon the pins of a conveyor, which are arranged in zigzag fashion. The conveyor is then moved a certain distance and the empty bobbins, which were previously placed on the conveyor, are doffed and conveyed on the lowered yarn package carriage, which is then raised into its operating position. At the same time, the lowered yarn packages, aligned obliquely, are raised from their positions, aligned vertically once again and then placed down on the conveyor. The empty bobbins are then raised from the conveyor, lowered in an oblique alignment onto the yarn package carriage and then aligned once again with the axis of rotation of the yarn package rotors. The gripping apparatus for the yarn packages and the empty bobbins has a carriage which can be moved along the front side of the machine.
On the carriage, an apparatus takes hold of the obliquely placed yarn packages, aligns them in a vertical direction and places them down on the conveyor and subsequently takes hold of the empty bobbins from the conveyor and places them down on the lowered, inclined yarn package carriage. The conveyor is essentially in the plane of a base plate of the machine in the vicinity of the lowered yarn package carriage.
German patent 39 36 518 discloses a slubbing machine with a flyer bank which carries a flyer inverted U-shaped revolving device and is disposed on a machine frame. The flyer bank is assigned to a bobbin rail which is supported on the machine frame so as to be movable vertically and horizontally. A transporting mechanism extends parallel to the bobbin rail and serves to supply empty bobbins and to carry away full ones. The bobbin rail can slide below the transporting mechanism and the transporting mechanism is at the same height as the flyer bank.
European patent 03 10 568 A 1 discloses a flyer with a bobbin rail which can be extended transversely to its longitudinal direction forwards out of the flyer. At the front of the flyer, there is a transporting mechanism for packages and empty bobbins, which runs above the flyer. To exchange the full packages for the empty bobbins from the bobbin rail to the transporting mechanism and from the transporting mechanism to the bobbin rail, the transporting mechanism is disposed so that it can be shifted vertically. All the full packages are doffed.
European patent 03 10 567 also discloses the doffing of the full packages in the upwards direction by means of an additional prior storage or conveying system.
A segmental doffing of the full packages from the tilted bobbin rail and transfer to a storage or conveying system disposed above the flyer, is described in DOS 36 30 214 and the DD 284 919.
From German patent 31 46 040, it is known that a conveying chain is disposed as an intermediate storage system in front of the flyer and a doffing apparatus for the packages is disposed in front of the flyer and all of the full packages are doffed in pairs, with transfer to a suspension conveying system.
These arrangements include the need for relatively expensive lifting and lowering apparatuses, in some cases with gripper and lever systems, at the front side of the flyer for the transporting apparatus with storage system disposed above the flyer. These lifting and lowering apparatuses require not only additional space, but also interfere with the accessibility during the whole of the spinning process. For segmental doting, the time required is affected significantly.